I staggered back, my hand flying to my face. Pain exploded through my skull.
“What the hell?—”
“That’s for enabling my sister’s impulsive act.” Jack shook out his fist, looking grimly satisfied. “And for lying to me about your feelings for her.”
I worked my jaw. It hurt like hell, but nothing felt broken. “I probably deserved that.”
“You definitely deserved that.” He headed for the door again. “Don’t hurt my sister, Mike. Not emotionally, not physically, not in any way. Because if you do, I won’t just punch you next time.”
“Understood.”
He paused at the door. “I’ll handle our parents. Buy you some time before they come after you.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. I’m doing this for her, not you. I’ll be around,”
He left.
I stood there, touching my jaw, tasting blood. My phone started vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out.
Hell no. It was my grandfather. Probably calling to demand an explanation.
I sent it to voicemail.
I wasn’t ready to deal with him yet, or defend why I hadn’t married Hannah Pierce like he’d demanded. That I’d married someone else entirely.
My grandfather was going to lose his mind. Probably threaten to disinherit me again.
I didn’t care.
For now, I was only going to focus on her.
I’d just gotten her back, and she deserved time. To feel normal and loved, even if the normalcy was a lie.
Until then, I’d keep the secret. Let her think she was fine and adjust to being my wife without the shadow of death hanging over everything.
It was selfish. Probably wrong. Definitely complicated.
But it was the only thing I could do.
CHAPTER 6
Claudette
I hadto physically restrain myself from doing something embarrassing. Like squealing into my pillow. Or doing a ridiculous little dance. Or calling Pauline and screaming about how I was married to Michael Ashford.
Michael Ashford!
The man I’d been pathetically in love with since I was seventeen and didn’t know better than to fall for my brother’s untouchable best friend. The man who’d never looked at me like anything more than Jack’s kid sister who sometimes said funny things at dinner. The man who was so far out of my league we weren’t even playing the same sport.
Except now… he was my husband.
And he’d said we got married because we were in love.
I wanted to believe it so badly my chest hurt.
I met Michael when I was seven years old. Jack had dragged him home after school one day, both of them covered in mud from some playground adventure. My mother had been horrified. I’d thought Michael was the coolest person alive because he’d climbed a tree to rescue someone’s kite and fallen in a puddle doing it.
